After the Grimmpocalypse
by drawingdisaster
Summary: Civilization as we know it ceased to exist after a contagious virus transformed most of Remnant's population into bloodthirsty beasts. A fated encounter between two strangers hints at the possibility of a happy ending, signaling the end of the grotesque nightmare that has consumed the world.


A gunshot rang out in the distance, the loud bark of the weapon's discharge reverberating across the maze of decrepit builds and abandoned vehicles. A mangy crow cawed in anger at being interrupted during its meal, flapping its wings in agitation without flying away from the mutilated corpse it was poking with its beak.

The hooded figure that was looting the apartment building froze, its outstretched hand halting mid-air near a tin of tomato soup. The blond boy waited, listening in for screams, frantic footsteps and more gunshots. The looter tried to judge how many blocks away from his current location the shooter was making their last stand at. The sound of more discharges in quick succession drew a silent curse from the dry lips of the hooded scavenger.

Jaune hastily started going through the kitchen's cupboards, throwing canned food and small packages in his backpack. His sword was lying on the counter in front of him, easily accessible for when the sound of gunshots drew the attention of the local infected. If he was lucky the idiots that fired at each other would occupy the Grimm long enough for him to escape, if not, Jaune would hide in the building until the beasts scuttled away searching for human flesh. Jaune's Aura was still depleted from fending off two adult Beowolves earlier that day, he didn't fancy meeting with more Grimmified carriers if he could help it.

Jaune Arc was a lot of things, a scavenger, a naïve young man, a drifter and an opportunist. Granted, people had been forced to assume worse titles than those in order to survive in the wastelands after the Grimm pandemic had turned the world upside-down. Cannibalism, mugging and trickery in general were at an all-time high. Jaune had encountered many slavers on his journey as he moved from town to town. The young knight had managed to evade bandits and Grimmified infected so far, but even he knew that his luck would eventually run out.

Jaune frequently wondered if leaving the safety of his family home to protect others was a stupid decision. The Arc manor was an enormous fortress, built to last, and since his sisters and folks were growing vegetables in their barricaded greenhouses Jaune could wait out the Grimmpocalypse without risking his life on the road.

But for all that he tried and the stern lectures of his father and mother, Jaune have had enough of watching people get maimed from afar through the lens of his telescope. He felt disgusted with himself for living a comfortable, happy life while people were getting killed on the streets by the infected, or took their own lives to prevent Grimm bites from turning them into the same savage beasts that hunted them down.

Slipping out of the trashed apartment, Jaune descended the dirty staircase that led to the ground level. The young man spotted clothes and everyday objects splayed amongst the steps. Bleached human skeletons were huddled in the corners where the infected had feasted upon them to the point that not even the Grimm virus could make use of their bodies.

Jaune sidestepped a skeleton that was partially hanging over the railing, its bony fingers clenching the rusty bars even after the unfortunate victim's death. There was an open locket resting nearby, its brownish chain having been damaged by the passage of time until the links had corroded and the jewelry had fallen from its rightful place around the victim's neck. Jaune was half-relieved that the picture within it was damaged beyond recognition.

Walking around a dusty pink stroller, the Arc reached the ground level, sparing a moment to inspect the lobby. The place was as deserted as he had left it. Open mailboxes were lined up behind a crumbling doorkeeper's desk, the moldy letters spilling out from their openings were wrapped in cobwebs. Shards of broken glass paved the interior of the lobby while gaping window frames offered a view of the empty street outside.

Jaune surveyed the broken down vehicles and garbage-littered pavements. The glass shards cracked underneath his boots as he stepped out of the old building. He hurriedly headed for the outskirts, intent of putting some distance between himself, the unidentified gunmen that stalked the ruins and the horde of Grimm that the shooting would inevitably draw. Gunshots were to the creatures of Grimm what lit lamps were to fish in a dark body of water. Every knife-toothed monstrosity in the area would instantly converge around the source of the loud noise. Beowolves and Ursai , and Brothers knew what else! Jaune certainly wouldn't wait close by to find out what living nightmare emerged from the shadows. His little rest stop at the city of Vale, while brief, had replenished the knight's supplies and so the Arc could leave this infested concrete deathtrap for the relative safety of the countryside.

Jaune had barely cleared two blocks before he heard the sobbing.

The Arc knight paused, his ears trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. His gaze skimmed over deteriorated cars, eerily quiet passenger compartments and filthy windscreens to hover at a small white delivery van parked in front of a collapsed pharmacy. The sobbing voice emanated from behind its double doors, bloody handprints could be seen on the peeling paint, so fresh that they dripped crimson liquid on the sidewalk.

Jaune hesitated. This could be a trap, a crafty trick devised by remorseless bandits to jump him and steal his supplies. The knight scanned the shattered window displays of the nearby shops, peered at the side-view mirrors of the vehicle to see if he could make out anyone sitting on the driver's seat with a loaded rifle. He discovered no one, but that didn't ease his worries. Everything and anything appeared completely mundane and normal in the wastelands until the previously unassuming source of normality tried to violently dismember you.

The sobbing behind the metal doors only got louder, playing with the young knight's heartstrings. Jaune had run away from home to make a difference, and now that the opportunity to do so had presented itself to him he stalled and made excuses to flee from the scene. Some hero he was, no wonder his application letters to Huntsmen academies had been declined one after the other, before all hell had broken loose.

With a shuddering breath and a determined step forward Jaune grabbed the door handles and swung the double doors open. The scent of blood assaulted his senses seconds before the gleaming edge of a rapier lunged at his throat. Jaune stepped back with a startled cry, barely avoiding being skewered at the keen tip of the rapier.

The woman that wielded it was the definition of fierce despite her small stature. She looked like a delicate fairy with her snow-white ponytail and silver tiara even as she glared at him and tried to impale him once more. Yet Jaune noticed that the short woman appeared reluctant to abandon the bloody body she was knelt next to and go after him. There were tears in her pale cheeks and her eyes were puffy from crying, medical supplies were scattered all around her hunched form.

Weiss Schnee held a bloody rag at the side of her dying sister as she threatened the stranger with her weapon to keep him at bay. The man in front of her looked like some kind of vagabond, what with his childish black hoodie, unkempt blond hair and muddy jeans and sneakers. A sheathed sword could be seen hanging from his belt. Weiss felt like applauding her newest adversary for having the common sense of carrying a melee weapon on his person instead of recklessly firing a gun outside of a Beowolf den and alerting the beasts to their presence like his harebrained comrades.

"Leave now and I will refrain from killing you," Miss Snow-fairy enunciated clearly in a scathing tone, her voice hitching momentarily due to all of her sobbing. Jaune however merely stared fixedly at the older white-haired woman resting on the heiress' lap. Those two didn't look the part of honorless slavers or unhinged psychopaths that were murdering people to eat them. They seemed like genuine unfortunate travelers that had encountered the wrong crowd and needed his help. A pair of tight-knit siblings, judging from their similar physical appearances that had stumbled upon a bunch of cutthroats and suffered grave injuries while defending themselves or fleeing from their pursuers.

The blond vagabond took a hesitant step forward much to Weiss' immense displeasure.

"Your sister needs help." He started placating, only for the rapier in front of him to be aimed between his eyes with a dexterous flick of her wrist.

"That isn't any of your business," Weiss retorted, her cold glare turning borderline glacial. The Schnee heiress already knew that with Winter's Aura severely depleted and her sister's punctured lung unable to heal, there was no hope of saving her sibling. The only thing that she could do for Winter was to be there for her and offer her elder sister what little relief and fake reassurances she could in her last moments on Remnant.

"Now, begone from my sight, before I end your pathetic existence, you uncivilized highwayman." Weiss stated determinedly, her arm wrapping around Winter pulling the rasping older woman closer to her and farther away from Jaune.

The Arc knight frowned, seemingly ignoring the girl's threat to examine the ashen face of her dying sibling. Those pained half-lidded blue orbs were staring at the ceiling of the vehicle vacantly. Jaune doubted that the injured woman could comprehend what was happening around her in her current state.

The rapier drew back for a lightning-fast thrust forward when the Arc knight made to touch his sword. Weiss' eyes narrowed. Her posture stiffening when the sword slid out of its sheath. The heiress pulled Winter as far away from the blond mugger as she could, her muscles went taut as she prepared for the upcoming confrontation.

The Schnee heiress blinked in confusion when the unsheathed sword clanged on the ground. Two gloved palms were presented to her as a peace offering.

"My Semblance is Aura Amplification, it allows me to strengthen the properties of my Aura and even transfer it to a person of my choosing." The blond rapscallion uttered softly as if he was speaking to a dangerous cornered animal that was prone to attacking him. Weiss would have bristled at his patronizing tone if not for the bizarre circumstances she was in and the tiny seedling of hope that was blossoming inside her ribcage. Weiss would do anything to save Winter's life, no matter how convenient to her predicament the uncouth man's Semblance sounded, or how unlikely it was for his attempts to succeed.

"I could transfer my Aura into your sister and try to heal her, if you'd let me, that is." The blond crook concluded carefully, waiting for the heiress' reply. Weiss eyed him suspiciously, but both of them knew that she had little choice but to trust him or watch her sister die a slow agonizing death until Winter inevitably succumbed to her injuries. Weiss would then be truly and utterly alone and wander Remnant in her lonesome, a lifeless shade of her former self.

The Schnee Heiress nodded her head stiffly, but didn't lower her weapon or let her guard down. Even unarmed fighters could cause serious damage if they managed to close the distance and attack their opponents fast enough. Although, the blond rascal didn't appear to be well-versed in hand-to-hand combat or particularly strong for that matter, Weiss couldn't afford to judge him based on his weak appearance.

"If you attempt to harm her in any way or touch her inappropriately you will wish that you were in her place, mark my words, scalawag." She promised darkly. Jaune nodded before climbing onto the back of the vehicle and kneeling next to the unresponsive Winter.

"Here goes nothing," He murmured, placing his hands over the dying woman's wounds, all the while trying to ignore the steel toothpick that poked his neck. After taking a deep breath, Jaune closed his eyes focusing on healing the dying woman. Aura traveled from his hands to the collapsed Schnee's chest, pooling over her injuries.

Winter inhaled sharply prompting Weiss to poke at Jaune's neck harder with the tip of her rapier. The young knight felt the Aura that was coating his arms being redirected to his neck to shield him from the perceived attack. He managed to rein it in with some difficulty and forced it back into the body of the bloodied stranger. The Schnee's Aura, weak as it was still resisted him, if only temporarily. It fought back the gleaming byproduct of his soul, like water repelling oil in a glass vial. The patient's Aura then started assimilating the invading force, it siphoned its strength and made it its own. Winter's body started shining with a calming white glow, her wounds started shrinking and fading.

Weiss gasped while witnessing Winter's transformation. Her sister's deathly pale body regained some of its color, her raspy breathing became easier. The erratic rising and falling of her chest stabilized right before her eyes.

Tentatively, Weiss removed the stained rag from the wounded side of her elder sister. When blood didn't instantly start gushing from the wound, the heiress excitedly wiped away some of the sticky substance to reveal smooth skin where once a messy bullet hole had been visible.

The highwayman groaned as he moved away from Winter, his clumsy movements speaking of his exhaustion as he made to step out of the vehicle. Weiss was faster than him, however, reaching out to grab his dirty sleeve in her blood-stained hand. The drained Arc knight lifted his head to meet her watery blue orbs.

"Thank you," The snow fairy mouthed tearfully and for the first time in a long while Weiss Schnee cracked a small, sincere smile.

* * *

**Notes: I started writing this story while wondering about potential uses of Jaune's Semblance. The thought occurred to me then that his Semblance could potentially make him invaluable during a zombie apocalypse and grant him some level of immunity to the zombie bites. As I started contemplating the zombie setting more and more I came up with some interesting tidbits of ideas. What if the virus turned people into Grimm instead of zombies? What would happen to Jaune if he met members of the Schnee family? Would they capture him to produce a cure out of him or would they travel with him to better understand his gift in a hopeless world? Would they backstab him to make him a guinea pig upon arriving at a settlement or would they respect him so much at that point that they would be his friends? Would Jaune be conscious of his gift and hide its true potential until he had to save a loved one? Would Weiss and Winter be scientists in this setting, working for their family company? Did the SDC manufacture the virus in the first place? What if the setting was a White Knight story, how would those two meet for the first time? I wrote this one shot while exploring those ideas.**


End file.
